but kerry is not one to be toyed with either. and he's actually done a number of missions, secret and otherwise for this president. he knows the ropes. it's the job he has wanted forever. so i would not look at him too lightly. i think that he is a very experienced diplomat and has got a lot of chops. >> when president obama was first inaugurated, one of the things that he talked about in terms of american power around the globe, and he was back stopped in a big way by both hillary clinton and by bob gates, who was initial secretary of defense was this idea that state department needs to grow in esteem, that the military has what it needs effectively in terms of resources, that they don't see themselves as having an enemy in the world on capitol hill, but that the state department needs to grow in order to exert that kind of american power that can only be exerted by people who don't have guns, rather than asking the military to do so much more than it's ever been asked to do. if that is an overall project of the obama administra